Today, I came across an email that contained a link to a piece written on Inside Higher Ed titled “Decolonizing the Academy” written by a white settler, Steven Mintz. The piece contained reflections on decolonization in higher education & provides a (very) basic list of five areas in the academy that Mintz says calls for decolonization have been the loudest. The list that Mintz provides is interesting in the sense that it leaves settler-colonialism intact & obscures the many roles  “the academy” has played in the creation & reproduction of racist colonial capitalism.

Here’s a direct link to this flaming dumpster of mediocre settler liberalism: https://www.insidehighered.com/…/decolonizing-academy

What stood out for me, as a reader, is Mintz’s reference for what decolonization means “at its most radical” is from a page on the Loyola College website (likely less than 2 years old). If you click the hyperlink, you’ll find that the page its just a checklist for decolonizing your syllabus & the definition that  Mintz called so radical is quoted there with NO in-text citation & NO reference entry.

Steven Mintz’s reference for the definition of decolonization is not Frantz Omar Fanon, not Aime Cesaire, not Eve Tuck & K. Wayne Young, not Kwame Nkrumah (& I could keep going but I’ve made my point). The most radical definition is from a Loyola College website with no references.

Interestingly, Mintz mentioned nothing about power dynamics between students & staff, students & faculty, faculty & staff, & etc.. No mention of the hegemonic structure of academia & how tenure is exploitative & reproduces colonial capitalist relations. This major absence is a great demonstration of how the settler state co-opts even language & betrays its meaning through commodification.

Below is a teaching tool that I often use to help people by providing a historically grounded definition of decolonization that they can then use to help them make sense of what anti-racism is. (NOTE: Do not share my teaching tools without my permission)

What white academics need to do is stop speaking about things they clearly know nothing about. Truly challenging the colonial situation in academe means likely abolishing it. This fact is not changed by how many white academics read the Eve Tuck & K. Wayne Yang piece or Kimberlé Crenshaw’s work on intersectionality. Nor is it changed by how many racialized peoples you add to your syllabus. Colonialism is not just in the curriculum, its everywhere in & outside of the academy.

How did you manage to truly listen & be so moved by anti-racism & decolonization…but you’re still the LOUDEST ONE IN THE ROOM? Taking up all the space, again. Focus your energies on abolishing whiteness & race/ism, & consider being quiet more often than not. That does more to challenge the colonial situation than performative gestures ever could.

Suggested Readings:

Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Omar Fanon (attached in .pdf format)

Towards the Abolition of whiteness by David Roediger